MIGHT IS RIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11685, 29 April 1916, Page 8

MIGHT IS RIGHT.

GERMAN DOCTRINE EXAMINED. Mr Murray Mncdonald. M.P., in a book just issued', brings to th* tett of history tlio characteristic Uerman doctrim* that cojjquo.it k the divino plan for'the advancement of the world:— " r will not sat. . . that conquest has uovor been the means of furthering civilisation; or that the conquered peoples have n<*vor derived from their r-übj-vtion U q\v :nid better conditions <ii ni", ;it),-l 01 - o |, n „, nv aJK j j )£ ter way 0 f living. This has often been the case. Hut Ido sav th;it it ha* I never been the fruit of a M.'.tcmrific [ policy of aggrandisement, o! a policy systematically pursued by a country for" the .<•:;!lu* of adding to its population, or its wealth, or for the sake of empire, or even for the extension of it? influence m the world. things, if they ronie' to a country, come Wit because if bears in its life and'carries with it ni its conduct, something that' makes a deeper appeal to the nature of man than the apical of force, jind something that can be neither estimated nor measured in terms of force. Of nations, as of individuals, it is true, that, they must first .seek the Kingdom °f Heaven before these things can be added unto them; and the Kingdom or Heaven will not be taken bv force. Ihe plea that "might is rieht" is the inference which men of shallow understanding have drawn from the incontestable fact that in the.history of .States there is always a tendency for political supremacy to gravitate towards the side, of force. " It is among the weaknesses of human nature that it should' be so. The Government of a bfcjte must have force at its back; and m the case of a dispute, either between it and its own subjects, or between it and the. Government of another State, it is always tempted to settle the dispute m .is own favour, not by a patient weighing of Us merits, but bv a. reliance on the force which is under its control. When it yields to the temptation, as it too often does, and when it is successful m making its arbitrary will the rule of its conduct, as it too orten is, then political sunremacv and rorce become identified. * But when, need fro m the prejudices, and passions that influenced- it, we look back on the history of a State and consider whether its Government was good or bad, it is not primarily its function as an instrument of force that concerns us. but its function as. an instrument of justice; and justice, from whatever other source we may derive it, does certainly not spring from force